


Baby, It’s Cold Outside

by BananaChef



Category: The X-Files
Genre: Blizzards & Snowstorms, Dinner, Domestic Fluff, F/M, Flirting, Fluff and Smut, I'm Bad At Tagging, Love Confessions, Porn with Feelings, Sex, Sharing Clothes, Song: Baby It's Cold Outside, This wasn't supposed to be so long, also i had to do actual research for this because i did not in fact grow up with much 90s stuff, brought to you by s1e4 onward & spotify's "Christmas Hits" playlist, but hey what can i say they make me ~feel~ things, in typical me fashion: about 2k words before the smut lol, oh no it's snowing looks like we need to stay at my apartment scully..., you might have to squint but i'm pretty sure it's there
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-28
Updated: 2020-12-28
Packaged: 2021-03-10 19:08:01
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,272
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28372134
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BananaChef/pseuds/BananaChef
Summary: She screeched, quickly shoving open the passenger door and scrambling outside to slam it closed. Suddenly, Mulder was beside her, grasping her hand and tugging her along to a side door. He fumbled with the doorknob but eventually got it, dragging Scully inside after him, letting the metal door slam shut. Both of them breathed heavily, Scully wrapped up in Mulder’s arms to preserve warmth.“It’s fucking freezing,” she commented with a laugh, teeth chattering.“Yeah,” he responded, pulling her closer, and she shivered for a reason other than the cold.“We should—” Scully swallowed, playing with a button of his coat. “We should go to your apartment. It’s warmer there.” She didn’t want to leave Mulder’s embrace.He’s so warm.The image of waking up tangled with his naked body underneath a horde of blankets invaded her mind and she abruptly stepped away from him.
Relationships: Fox Mulder/Dana Scully
Comments: 2
Kudos: 44





	Baby, It’s Cold Outside

Scully could barely see the road from the passenger seat and she knew Mulder, even with his extra height, couldn’t see through snow any better. “If that building on the corner is what I think it is,” he started, hunching over in his seat as if he’d get a better range of sight that way, “my apartment is only a few blocks away. I don’t think the snow’s going to let up any time soon, and I’d rather not drive the rest of the way to the Hoover building.”

“Just say what you mean, Mulder,” Scully sighed, wrapping her arms around herself in an attempt to better fend off the cold. “If you’re asking me to stay over for the night because there’s a blizzard outside, then, yes, I agree. I’m tired and cold and hungry, and I don’t want to drive all the way to my place in this weather, either.”

“Okay, then. It’s settled. My apartment is...here, and you’ll be staying the night. Good.” Mulder pulled into the parking lot next to his building and parked the car, removing his keys to put them in his pocket. His hands went back to the wheel, which he squeezed.

 _It’s not a violation of anything, it’s just practical._ Scully swallowed. “Mulder?”

“Yes?”

“Are we getting out of the car?”

Mulder swallowed. “Uh, yeah. Sorry.” He pulled up his hood and scarf, pulling on his gloves, too, before looking over at Scully. “Ready?”

“No,” she replied, a bit of a nervous laugh to it. _What’s his apartment like? Does it smell like him? Does he cook? Does he wear cologne or is that just his own scent?_

“Well, too bad. Go!” He shoved open the driver’s side door, a blast of freezing air and snow barreling into Scully for a moment before he shut it.

She screeched, quickly shoving open the passenger door and scrambling outside to slam it closed. Suddenly, Mulder was beside her, grasping her hand and tugging her along to a side door. He fumbled with the doorknob but eventually got it, dragging Scully inside after him, letting the metal door slam shut. Both of them breathed heavily, Scully wrapped up in Mulder’s arms to preserve warmth.

“It’s fucking freezing,” she commented with a laugh, teeth chattering.

“Yeah,” he responded, pulling her closer, and she shivered for a reason other than the cold.

“We should—” Scully swallowed, playing with a button of his coat. “We should go to your apartment. It’s warmer there.” She didn’t want to leave Mulder’s embrace. _He’s so warm._ The image of waking up tangled with his naked body underneath a horde of blankets invaded her mind and she abruptly stepped away from him.

“Yes. We should.” Mulder smiled sheepishly and led the way up the stairwell, breaths visible in the cold but snow- and wind-free air. He stopped at his door and pulled out his keys, unlocking the door before holding it open for Scully. “Ladies first,” he said, giving her a little bow that made her roll her eyes.

“Just get inside and shut the door. It feels like my fingers are freezing off.” Scully peeled her gloves off and exhaled on her hands, rubbing them together as Mulder locked the door and turned up the thermostat.

“I can help with that,” he offered, voice soft, as he walked over to her. Looking down at her intently, Mulder tugged off his own gloves and took Scully’s delicate hands in his; he brought them up to his lips and exhaled on them, lips brushing her knuckles before he lowered their hands and rubbed them together.

He wasn’t just warming up her hands, that was for sure. “Thank you,” Scully whispered, and she almost stood on her toes to kiss him, but looked away instead, gently extracting her hands from Mulder’s grasp. “Do you mind if I use your shower? I haven’t had a good one since we left.”

His eyes flitted down her frame, and Scully _knew_ he was thinking about her naked in his shower. She bit her lip to stop herself from smiling.

“Not at all,” Mulder responded, voice low and a little hoarse. He nodded towards his bedroom. “Just through there, the far door on the right. You can borrow some of my clothes for the night. If you put yours in the hamper I can do a load after my wash, if you’d like.” He stuck his hands in his pockets, looking like he’d be honored to peel her clothes from her body himself.

“Sounds good. What do you have to eat? Hopefully something warm.” Scully gave him a small smile that suggested she knew what he was thinking as she backed toward the door to his bedroom.

“I’ll see what I can make. I’m sure I have something...”

Scully turned around and opened the door, facing Mulder again and closing it slowly, meeting his heavy gaze until it was shut. It shouldn’t have been so titillating to tease him like that but, _God,_ did it feel good and natural to do it. It couldn’t go anywhere, though; they were co-workers, first and foremost, and Scully had a feeling that their life goals didn’t match up well enough. Mulder could get so caught up with his work on the X-Files that he forgot to relax, and—possibly even _more_ concerning—was the fact that the only other subject she’d ever seen him be so focused on was _her._

Sometimes, in those lulls between cases when work was confined to a nine-to-five schedule and the days were spent organizing files, Scully would catch Mulder watching her like he was analyzing one of his X-Files and trying to figure out the right way to crack it. And, sometimes, once they’d both looked away, she’d wonder if he ever thought that she was as much a puzzle as the files he slaved over. _She_ certainly thought the reciprocal of that. But it _couldn’t happen._

There were a million reasons why she should’ve stripped, showered, and then put her clothes back on afterward, but the only thing she listened to was her heart. Inside Mulder’s bathroom, lights and shower both on (the room smelled quintessentially Mulder, too), she undressed, tossing her dirty clothes in her partner’s hamper to be washed. The hot water from the showerhead rid Scully of any lingering coldness as she wet her hair, wiping it back from her face and turning away from the spray. Standing on her toes, she reached up to the top shelf of Mulder’s shower products and retrieved one of the bottles—shampoo. A good start.

* * *

Mulder was working on a meal of pasta, and failing miserably. His grandmother’s recipe was laying around in his apartment somewhere, but having difficulty not burning the noodles shouldn’t have been such a difficult task. And it wouldn’t have been, if the irregular sound of the shower water hitting the floor wasn’t audible from the kitchen. But it was, and the images the sound brought with it were _very_ distracting. The first time he caught himself slipping, he managed to save the noodles, and the second time, he nearly spilled the sauce even though he was reading from his grandmother’s recipe by then.

“Pasta? Smells good.” Mulder looked behind him and found Dana dressed in one of his shirts, along with a pair of his pants held in place by one of his belts. They made her look especially small, the clothes being a few sizes too big for her.

“I hope you’re a better cook than I am, or this is going to be a lackluster meal,” he quipped, gesturing her over to his cooking area with a movement of his head. “I’m trying to use my grandmother’s recipe but I’ve never done well in a kitchen.” Mulder stirred the pasta and leaned towards Dana conspiratorially as she consulted the recipe on the sauce, a smirk on his lips. “I don’t think stoves like me much.”

She smiled back, arching one brow as she added some seasoning to the red tomato sauce. “Do you have an X-File on stoves hating the lovable Fox Mulder?”

“No, but I did type one up way back when I was twelve.” He gave a short laugh, mirrored by Dana’s, and was exhilarated by how _right_ it all felt. Her red hair, left unstyled after her shower, was starting to curl—most prominently at her hairline, especially by her temple, and Mulder had to stop himself from tucking a particularly adorable curl behind her ear.

“Go take your shower, I’ve got it from here.” He _really_ wanted to give Dana a peck on the lips before leaving the room as if his apartment was _their_ apartment and they were a real couple instead of stuck in the limbo they were in. Instead, Mulder nodded and settled for giving her shoulder a quick squeeze.

* * *

By the time Mulder finished showering and came back with a clean load of laundry in hand, Scully had finished the pasta. Dinner was awkward, neither of them speaking much once the table was set and they’d taken their seats at his two-chair table.

“It’s good,” Mulder started, breaking the silence, and Scully looked up at him, their gazes meeting as she sucked a noodle into her mouth. “Is Agent Scully a secret chef in addition to being a doctor? What other hidden degrees do you have?”

She laughed at his antics, taking a sip of water. “I used to do a lot of cooking with my parents when I was younger. I never really liked it on my own, though. Felt too lonely after always cooking with family before, you know?”

“Yeah.”

They lulled into silence until Scully dared to speak up. “Did you ever have an activity like that with your sister?”

She couldn’t tell if Mulder was reminiscing or trying not to cry; maybe both. “Uh, my parents used to play Christmas songs—which, you know, is normal. We’d all dance together and sing along, but...after Sam...” He swallowed heavily and fiddled with his fork. “It was never the same. It never felt right. Do you ever get that feeling?”

The raw emotion in his voice threatened to break Scully’s heart in two, so she looked down at her almost-empty plate. “I do. Making Christmas dinner with my mother isn’t the same without my dad there.” She finished off her plate and drained her glass before collecting all four items with a soft, “Are you done?” and depositing them in the sink.

“My parents would dance to ‘Baby, It’s Cold Outside’,” Mulder said softly, and Scully turned around to look at him. He was gazing at her, a familiar look on his face: he was trying to choose his next action carefully. “I have a copy of it to play in my Discman...”

“Agent Mulder, are you asking me to dance with you?” she teased, trying to lighten the mood. She bit her lip to stifle her smile but let it bloom when Mulder smiled back.

“What would you say if I was?” he asked, standing up and walking over to her. Scully leaned against the counter, looking up at him as he placed his hands on either side of her, cocking his head to the side and arching an eyebrow.

She wanted to sneak one hand under his sweater and undershirt to feel his skin, use the other to cup his cheek, and kiss him. “I’d say, ‘Yes.’”

* * *

“Baby, It’s Cold Outside” drifted from the Discman as Mulder held Dana in his arms, the two swaying slowly to the song. His fingers were intertwined at the small of her back, hers at the base of his neck, while her head rested on his chest. He closed his eyes, resting his chin on her head lightly before angling his face down to press a kiss to the crown of her head.

“This is nice,” Mulder murmured, enchanted by the smell of Dana’s personal scent mixed with the scent of his shampoo and conditioner.

“Yeah...” She lifted her head to gaze up at him, and before he knew what was happening, their lips connected. Their kiss was gentle, and her lips were so, _so_ soft—just as pleasant as he’d imagined. “This is a bad idea...” But Dana only went back for more, and Mulder was happy to give himself over to her.

“I like bad ideas, in case you didn’t know.” He kissed across her jaw, one hand tangling itself in her hair as the other tugged his shirt she was wearing from the pair of his pants she was wearing. He nipped at the pulse point by her ear, drawing out a delicious gasp and sigh that made Mulder’s lips quirk.

Dana dragged her nails over his scalp, causing him to groan, before directing his lips back to hers. This kiss was much more powerful than the first. She kissed him like she was trying to consume him—trying to imprint the taste of him and the feel of his lips in her mind; she kissed him like she was trying to sate a years-long desire to make love to him, and he groaned at the thought when she playfully bit his lip.

“Dana,” he huffed out reverentially, before being drawn back into the kiss by the heady taste of her. “Dana,” he repeated, and they finally parted, breathing heavily. “Bed.”

“Yes.” He picked her up in a bridal carry, her arms wrapping around his shoulders as he carried her to his bedroom. Mulder set her down on the bed and was met with Dana’s lips once more, breaking away just long enough to fumble for the light on his bedside table and turn it on.

“Dana,” he breathed when their lips met after she tugged off his sweater and undershirt. “Dana,” as he moved his lips across her collarbone after removing his shirt that she was wearing. “Dana,” like a prayer as he pulled down his pants that she was wearing. “Dana,” like her name was salvation—a balm for all his wounds. “Dana,” he groaned, his fingers finding her sex and spreading her moisture as he laid her down on his bed like he’d envisioned too many times to count.

“Mulder,” she exhaled, hands quickly making their way to his belt to undo it and shove his pants down. He kicked them off and quickly claimed Dana’s lips, unable to bear being away from her sweet warmth any longer than necessary. “I’m clean.”

“So am I,” Mulder responded. “Haven’t been with anyone in years. But I don’t have protection.” He pulled away to make solid eye contact with Dana, who silently parted her legs and pulled him close to her.

“How’s your pull-out game?” she asked, and he laughed with her, gently kissing her shoulder.

“Good, unless you plan on embarrassing me.” Mulder pressed a kiss to the corner of her jaw, and then to her chin. “ _Are_ you planning to embarrass me?”

“I guess you’ll have to wait and see,” Dana replied, and if he had a ring he would’ve proposed to her right then, because her eyes reminded him of the stars in the night sky when he would watch them with Sam. She brought him back to the present with her hand against his slightly-stubbled cheek, brows creased in worry. “Hey, hey, is everything alright? We don’t—”

“No, I’m fine. It’s just...” Mulder squeezed her hip and she nodded sympathetically, rubbing her thumb along his cheek. “This is a lot. Because I love you. And—and if I had a ring, I’d propose to you right now. If I thought you’d say, ‘Yes,’ I’d venture out in this snowstorm to buy one.”

Dana’s eyes were shining with unshed tears as she reached down between them and stroked him, keeping eye contact as she maneuvered herself with his help so that they were aligned. “It’s a lot,” she agreed. “I love you, too. And if you proposed to me, I’d say, ‘Yes,’ but don’t venture out into the cold for a ring. It’s warmer here. _Together._ ” She was smiling by the end, eyes bright and face shining with happiness. “Plus, I’ve been wet for you all night. I touched myself in your shower in the hope that it would help but it didn’t. It just made me wish that it was your hand—” Dana guided his hand as she talked. “—touching my clit and your mouth—” She wound her fingers into his hair and gently pushed his head down. “—on my nipples.”

Following her direction, Mulder wasted no time teasing her and immediately started experimenting with different ways to rub her clit, finding what made her gasp his name and rake her nails down his back, suckling marks onto the soft skin of her breasts. Once he found the tactic that dissolved her into moans and thrusting hips, he finally took her nipple in his mouth and deftly brought her to the edge, inserting two of his fingers inside her. She whimpered and looked beautiful with her red hair curling as she thrust her hips against his fingers, seeking her end. “Come for me, Dana. Come for me, I know you can.” He crooked his fingers inside her and she screamed his name, reaching her peak. Mulder vaguely wondered if he’d get a noise complaint from his neighbors but pushed the thought aside in favor of watching Dana come down, breasts heaving.

“Wow.” Her eyes looked particularly blue just then.

“Have I rendered you speechless?”

“Yes.” She met his gaze with her own, her blue eyes fierce in a way that both made him proud and sent a wave of want through him. Dana wrapped her legs around him, crossing her ankles over his ass and pulling him close. “Do it again.”

Mulder did, thrusting home with one smooth roll of his hips. “Oh, Dana...” he whispered, resting his forehead on hers.

“I know,” she whispered, as wrecked as he was. “Please, Mulder, I need—” He knew what she needed. He pulled out and thrust back in, wrenching a gasp from her throat. “Yes. Please. More. _Harder._ ”

He groaned as he found a rhythm, losing himself in the heat of Dana enveloping him. “So good. So tight. _God,_ I _knew_ you would be.” She moaned, exposing the length of her neck to him, so Mulder left a line of kisses down to her breasts, suckling at them like before as he shifted her legs higher around his waist.

“Oh! Mulder! Fuck!” she swore, close to coming again.

“Yeah, baby. I want to see your face when you come again. You’re so beautiful when you come, and I know you’ll look even better when you come on me.” His words did it for her, sending her over the edge with a wordless scream. Mulder pulled out, sliding his hand over himself a couple of times before following Dana.

When they came to, they quickly tugged up his comforter, snuggling close together. “So, how would you rate my performance?” he asked, her head tucked against his shoulder.

He felt Dana’s laugh more than he heard it. “I’d say...ten.”

Mulder smiled, nuzzling her hairline. “Out of what?”

She looked up at him and said, “I think you can figure that out for yourself, Agent Mulder.” She was right. She was always right when it came to him; she knew him better than anyone else in his life, and that was something Mulder was grateful for. That, and the snowstorm that would undoubtedly force his partner to stay with him for a couple more days.

**Author's Note:**

> I know I said I’d write the myriad of fics in my other fandom but MSR has literally possessed me. I couldn’t _not_ write MSR fic if I tried! TXF is spoon-feeding me UST, flirting, _looking_ , and whatever the “if Mulder dies because of you”/“I know we’re not supposed to do this, but this...this one’s important to me. Let’s do this right” stuff is; it’s delicious.


End file.
